Casualties of War
by Victoria.Rae
Summary: This takes place as a kind of AU after the Nemesis Prime episode. What if Silas survived the fight more intact? What if Silas shifted his focus from world power to revenge? And he sees no better way to get it than by using Team Prime's smallest, most fragile members. Rated M for later violence.
1. Prologue

Today was not going as planned, to say the least. Jack had been trying to covertly warn Miko she was snoring in geometry when there was a distant boom. The sleeping teen's head snapped up as the class began to murmur curiously. "Settle down, settle down." The teacher sighed. Jack and Miko exchanged worried looks.

A minute passed. Miko texted Raf under her desk to check on him as the announcement system crackled to life.

Good news: It wasn't Decepticons.

Apparently, an important-sounding pipe in the boiler room had burst. A half-day was called due to some flooding, and once the current class period ended they'd be allowed to leave. There was to be absolutely NO playing in the flooded areas of the hallways. This caused part of the class to groan, Miko included.

The last half of that class was nearly unbearable. Barely controlled energy rolled off all the students, and it was a wonder that the teacher didn't just give up. Not a single thing was learned for the rest of the period.

Miko shot out of her seat like a rocket when the bell rang, and she wasn't alone. Many of the kids cheered as the horde flooded the hallways.

"Jack, come on," Miko whined as the older boy packed his bags. "Raf's gonna meet us out front. Let's go, let's go, let's gooo!"

"Alright, alright." He laughed, slinging his dark blue backpack over his shoulder. Even he couldn't stay annoyed at her for long, the excitement was infectious. They stopped briefly at her locker before going to his. Miko ranted on about increasingly insane ideas for how to use the rest of their suddenly free day. Eventually, the hallway began to empty, and Jack finally finished organizing his things.

"You're as bad as Raf sometimes," Miko complained as the descended the front steps. The students had taken off as soon as they were freed, so the campus was already near-deserted. It was then Jack realized two things;

Firstly, in all the excitement they had forgotten to let the Bots know about the half-day. Whoops.

Secondly, Raf wasn't there either. Miko seemed to realize this too, as she spun around in confusion.

"Huh," she mused, "Where do you think he-" Before she could finish her question, the answer came in the form of a familiar yelp.

"Raf?" Jack called toward the sound, but Miko was already running that way. Jack took off after her with an internal groan.

Jack expected to find Vince and his idiot friends picking on Raf in the alley beside the school. He did not expect a M.E.C.H. commando to be staring them down expectantly, the barrel of a gun pressed against Rafael's head.

The younger boy was trembling, his shocked face mirroring his friends'. The contents of his backpack were scattered around his feet. Behind them, where the alley connected with another, wider one, was an idling black SUV with blacked-out windows. One of the armored doors swung open and the commando motioned them forward with his head. "Hands where I can see them," he demanded.

Slowly, Jack raised his hands in the air and stepped forward. Miko followed his lead hesitantly, glaring holes into the M.E.C.H. soldier's face mask. "Don't hurt him, please," Jack pleaded as calmly as he could, "We'll do what you want."

"Get in," Was all the man said. The teens complied. He shoved Raf in after them and slammed the door shut. The identically dressed driver stared ahead silently as his partner climbed into the passenger seat. He twisted around and leveled his gun at them again. The color drained from the kids' faces, and Raf pressed himself back into the seat.

"Phones, now. Hand 'em over." Miko and Jack shared a split second look. Jack made a show of struggling to find his phone, and Raf, taking the hint, did the same. Miko, the fastest texter, used this opportunity to covertly send a message. The man snatched the boys' phones away and turned to her. Her finger just brushed the send button when he slammed the butt of his gun into her gut. Miko cried out and doubled over in pain, tears welling in her eyes.

"Miko!" Jack panicked and leapt toward the man without thinking. He didn't have a plan, all he knew was he had to stop them from hurting his friends right now. The M.E.C.H. commando swung out with the butt of his gun again, hitting Jack square in the jaw. His head snapped back from the impact and the taste of blood filled his mouth. He could hear his friend's terrified voices. Jack was still trying to shake the stars from his vision when a second blow struck the back of his head. The teen slumped to the floor of the SUV, darkness engulfing him.


	2. Chapter 1: MIA

Chapter 1

M.I.A.

The pounding in his head ripped Jack back into consciousness.

He peeled his face off the cold, hard floor with a moan and delicately unclenched his jaw.

"Jack!" Miko whispered excitedly.

Jack tried to pick himself up but found his wrists bound with zip ties. Miko nudged him with her shoulder, helping him sit up. He winced, his head still throbbing, and looked at her. Miko and Rafael were similarly bound and watching him, Raf looked worried and Miko looked thrilled, but both had dried tear stains on their cheeks. Miko also had a black eye. Memories of the day gone wrong flooded back to him.

"Are you guys ok?" Jack asked worriedly, twisting around to get a better look at his friends.

Miko huffed, "Duh"

"I'm more worried about you, Jack. You were unconscious for a while.."

"I'm fine, Raf. Just a headache," He assured, before eyeing Miko's face, "Miko… your eye.."

Miko straightened up proudly, "You didn't really think they'd restrain me without a fight, did you?"

"Never," A smile tugged at his lips, and he looked Raf over worriedly. "Are you ok Raf?"

The small boy nodded, "After they knocked you out they blindfolded us. We drove for a couple of hours. Then they yanked us from the car, bound our hands, and tossed us in here."

"Miko, what about that text?" He added hopefully.

Deflating slightly, she slowly shook her head. "I… I tried to hit send. I don't know if it went through, though." She perked up again, a little forced this time, "But by now we would have left school normally, anyway, right? The Bots have _gotta_ know we're missing. They're gonna come bustin' in any minute now."

"Even if you got ahold of them, Miko, how would they know where 'here' is? We don't even know where we are." Rafael's voice trembled a bit, but his eyes were sharp with focus, taking in every detail of their surroundings.

Miko scoffed, "Never stopped them before. If they can help us out of an alternate dimension, they can find us here."

"She's got a point," Jack agreed with a soft smile, "The Bots will _always_ come for us, Raf, don't worry."

* * *

It was Arcee who found Rafael's backpack. The bots started to get anxious after waiting in silence for nearly 15 kliks. Since she was the only one small enough to get into the alleyways, Arcee activated her Sadie hologram and started to investigate. The bag itself was distinct enough, but when she saw his precious laptop laid carelessly on the ground, her spark ran cold.

A series of panicked comm-ing and a _lot _of cursing later, the bots were all gathered in the main hangar of their base. They had called the kids' phones repeatedly on the way back, to no avail. Now they were stuck waiting on Fowler and June.

Bulkhead seemed to be vibrating with rage, kicking and punching a chunk of scrap metal. Bumblebee sat slumped against one wall, staring helplessly at the laptop resting in his palm. Arcee was pacing around the room with cold intensity. Optimus Prime stood solemnly behind Ratchet, watching the medic do his best to track the kids' phones.

The proximity alarm began to chirp as June's car sped into the base. She had barely parked before she and Fowler jumped out. "Prime!" Fowler bellowed as he approached the Autobot leader, "What in the name of sam hill is going on?"

Optimus tilted his head forward thoughtfully, "I'm afraid I was planning to ask you the same thing, Agent Fowler. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead arrived at the usual time to collect the children, but there was no sign of them." Bumblebee let out a low, pained _whir _and held out his servos, showing the humans Raf's things.

Bulkhead could barely keep the rage out of his voice, "Yeah, that's all we found." He turned and took another swing at his scrap victim.

"Wait," June began, her voice quivering with the rage and fear and sorrow flooding through her, "The usual time? You mean 3 o'clock?" Optimus nodded. "No, no.. That can't be right." June dug frantically through her purse for her phone, "The school let out early today. They sent out automated texts to all the parents." Her eyes scanned the message over twice more, making sure she hadn't misread it.

"_What_?" Arcee hurried over. "When?"

"I got the message around 11:30," The color drained from June's face, "Are you telling me they could have been missing _3 and a half hours _before any of us realized?"

Arcee mirrored the woman's look of horror. Before anyone else could comment, a burst of colorful cursing came from Fowler.

"Ah HA!" Ratchet exclaimed triumphantly. All eyes turned to him, on his screen Jack's ID photo grinned out at them, a flashing phone symbol in the corner.

"Oh, thank god," June practically sobbed in relief as Ratchet answered the incoming call.

"Hello, Autobots." A could, heavy dread settled over the room as Silas' voice came through the speakers. Fowler was the first to break through the shock.

"Impossible! You got pancaked by a building!"

Silas chuckled darkly, "Yes, well, I got better."

"Where are the kids, you pit-dragged fragger?" Arcee hissed. Optimus placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

Instead of answering, Silas merely laughed. On either side of Jack's photo appeared Rafael and Miko's ID photos. Ratchet, practically on autopilot and still in shock, hit the commands to answer them too. Silas' voice echoed in triplicate.

"Now, why would I tell you that?"

"That's how bargaining works, ain't it?" Fowler mocked through gritted teeth, "We give you information, or a bot, or a damn McDonalds happy meal if you ask, and you give us the kids."

"You misunderstand me, Agent Fowler," Silas _tsked_, "Acquiring alien technology had been my main focus in life for many years. But thanks to you and your metal friends there, I've found a new purpose."

"And what, pray tell, might that be?" the agent growled.

"Destroying you all. Taking what you care about most, and shattering it before your eyes." An envelope shaped icon popped onto the screen with a beep. Beneath it read '_Photo message From Miko Nakadai's Phone'. _"Luckily for me, you all had such an easy weak spot. Talk to you soon" Silas purred before disconnecting. All three of the children's images disappeared, leaving only the unopened photo.

Ratchet's servos hovered above the keys, uncertain. He spared a look over his shoulder. June, now perched in Optimus' palm, met his optics. "Open it." Her voice broke, but her eyes were as hard as steel. Optimus inclined his head in the smallest of nods.

With an unspoken prayer to Primus, Ratchet turned back to the screen and opened the photo.

It was large, filling much of the screen, but focused in on the children so little of the surroundings could be seen. Thick, dark lines in the foreground showed that they were in some kind of cage. All three had hands bound behind their back, with ruffled clothes and messy hair. Rafael's glasses sat crooked on his face as he stared into the camera, brown eyes wide with terror. He knelt on the ground slightly behind Miko, who was crouched and mid-scream and whoever was holding her phone, dark purple bruises blossoming around her eye. She looked ready to lunge forward. Beside them both lay Jack, curled on his side with his back to the camera, his face hidden from view.

A lot of things happened at once. "_Primus_," Ratchet gasped out. He scanned the image over and over, willing it to move; to give them some idea of what happened to the kids after it was taken.

Fowler tensed up, his hands balled so tightly into fists his nails dug into his skin. A heartbroken sob came from June, no longer able to remain strong at the sight of her unmoving son.

Bulkhead let out an enraged roar, slamming both his fists down on the scrap, flattening it with a _bang_. Bumblebee wailed, his hunched frame trembling with rage and fear. He held the laptop as close to his spark as he could manage without crushing it. Arcee was entirely quiet, optics locked on the image.

Optimus Prime was unreadable. At first, he seemed frozen in place, but the hysterical human in his hand moved him to act.

**Arcee, **The leader's voice came through her personal comm channel. She forced herself to turn to him. He inclined his head toward June. **I believe she would find reassurance from you the most comforting. **

Arcee was ready to protest, to warn him June was just as likely to turn on her, to blame her for failing to keep Jack safe, but he didn't give her the chance. Optimus carefully lowered June to the ground in front of Arcee. Hesitantly, she knelt to the sobbing woman. She was suddenly very unsure of what to do.

"June,.. I…" Arcee was spared from struggling to find the right words when June rushed forward. Her processor screamed _attack_ on instinct, and she braced herself for the screaming. Instead, June hoisted herself up on Arcee's knelt knee, using her speed to boost herself higher. She flung her arms around the two-wheeler's neck and clung tightly, even as the tips of her toes were lifted from the solid ground (well, leg) when Arcee sat up in shock. Yelling? She expected. Blame? She would wholeheartedly agree with. But a hug? This wasn't something Arcee was prepared for.

After a moment, June felt large metal hands wrap softly around her back, holding her carefully in place. The woman leaned her forehead on Arcee's shoulder plating, the way one would cry into a friend's shoulder. Part of her could hear the others talking, yelling, planning, but she didn't care. After what felt like an eternity, she started to grow quiet having run out of tears. Her throat felt raw and her muscles were tight with exhaustion. _Get yourself together, June_. She mentally chided herself, _Jack needs you_. She took a deep breath and raised her head to find a set of blue optics staring down at her. Even in the midst of all the chaos, June found herself once again marveling at how easy it was to read emotion in those glowing eyes. Arcee looked almost afraid.

June smiled tightly, "I'm sorry, I… I'm done with my tantrum now."

"June, I'm sorry. I know you have no reason to believe me," Arcee's voice hardened, "But I swear on the Well of All Sparks I'll get him back. We'll get them all home safely."

The rage bubbling up in Arcee came to a halt when June held up one hand. "Arcee, I don't blame you. Well," she smiled a sad, slightly twisted smile, "No more then I blame myself. I knew they let school out early. I should have checked in on him, made sure he got to the base alright. Hell, it would have taken me seconds to text you. But I didn't, I just assumed everything was normal. And now..." She twisted around to look at the photo again.

Arcee followed her gaze, her spark twisted each time she looked at Jack. _I'm coming, Jack _Arcee thought, willing the universe to bring her message to him, _Just hold on. _


End file.
